Sinai Today: The long-term revolution

Rekindling the revolutionary spirit of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Gamla.

Which is the most important cabinet appointment that Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu will make? As coalition bargaining begins for cabinet appointments,
many focus on the crucial Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Defense and
those directly impacting the security or the political and economic standing of
Israel.

However, probably the most important ministry for the long-term
interests of Israel is that of education, which not only has the power to raise
the standard of general education in Israel but, more specifically and
significantly, the capability to radically improve the nature and quality of
Torah education for Israeli children, thereby creating the society of the
future.

Jewish history has proven that Torah education is the life blood
of our people. There was one historic decision, in particular, that made this
principle absolutely clear for all generations. It was a decision that had to be
made on the spur of the moment but that changed everything, and its consequences
are still being felt almost 2,000 years later.

The Roman Empire had
invaded the Land of Israel and surrounded Jerusalem. Vespasian, the Roman
military commander in Judea, had just been appointed emperor. He had deep
respect for Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, the great Talmudic scholar and leader of
the Jewish people, and so granted him one request, including the possibility of
saving Jerusalem and the Temple.

With Yavne being the center of Jewish learning at the time,
Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai expressed his belief that Torah learning is vital to
the Jewish future, that it is our life force and the secret to our
continuity.

Jewish history has vindicated the seemingly controversial
decision of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai. It is self-evident that throughout the
centuries the communities and individuals that have thrived, have been those for
whom Torah learning – and specifically the Torah education of children – has
been a central value and way of life; such communities and individuals have been
beacons of vitality, growth and inspiration. It is the Diaspora communities that
have prioritized and invested wholeheartedly in schools dedicated to Torah
education, that have the highest levels of commitment to Jewish values and the
lowest rates of intermarriage and assimilation.

And therein lies the
crucial influence of the Israeli minister of education; his or her decisions and
undertakings will impact generations of Israelis to come and, hence, the very
continuity of the Jewish people.

We need a revolution. For the sake of
the long-term future of the Jewish people, the new education minister, and
indeed Jewish communal leaders around the world, need to act in the spirit of a
great Jewish educational revolutionary from two thousand years ago: Rabbi
Yehoshua ben Gamla, whom the Talmud (Bava Batra 21a) singles out for special and
unusual praise as the founder of our first national Torah educational
system.

Education until then was home-based and overseen by parents
motivated by the mitzva to teach one’s children Torah. The quality of education
was haphazard as it depended on the individual circumstances of each family.
Subsequently, with the support of the great sages of the Talmud, Rabbi Yehoshua
ben Gamla established the halachic system whereby every city established its own
school for children from the age of six upwards. And thus, probably the world’s
first, broad-based comprehensive schooling became an integral part of Jewish
life.

The duty of every Jewish community across the world to provide a
school dedicated to Torah education is so rudimentary and crucial that the
Rambam (Hilchot Talmud Torah 2:1) rules, based on the Talmud, that any community
that neglects to do so is liable to be severely sanctioned, even by
excommunication.

Our great sages of the Talmud (Shabbat 119b) teach that
“the world exists in the merit of the breath of young children learning Torah.”
They state that even the awesome project of building the Beit HaMikdash, the
Temple, is secondary in importance. Practically, this means that Torah classes
should not be interrupted to conscript the children into assisting with the
building of Beit HaMikdash, which ostensibly seems by far more
significant.

The building of the Beit HaMikdash represents the grandest
and holiest national enterprise of the Jewish people but is, nonetheless,
secondary to teaching children Torah. So often Jewish communities give greater
priority to endeavours other than Torah schooling when, in reality, there is
nothing greater – not even the construction of the Beit Hamikdash.

The
Jewish world needs modern-day revolutionaries like Rabbi Yehoshua ben Gamla. We
need revolutionaries dedicated to raising a new generation of literate Jews, who
are familiar with the awesome intellectual and spiritual heritage of the Bible,
Talmud and other great works of Judaism; revolutionaries who will move beyond
the vagaries of the term “Jewish education” and define our objectives more
specifically.

For example, at a very minimum, every Jewish child must
learn the entire Chumash, or Pentateuch, while at school. And what about Pirkei
Avot, the Ethics of the Fathers – the classic of Torah philosophy and ethics
that has guided our thinking and actions for generations? These and other great
Torah works need to become part of the furniture of the minds of Jewish
children.

We need educational revolutionaries who understand that beyond
basic Jewish literacy, a proper Torah education provides the raison d’etre for
Jewish life and gives the new generation the moral vision and motivation to want
to be Jewish and continue the Jewish people and fight for the Jewish
state.

The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot (6:1) says that a Torah scholar is
like a ma’ayan hamitgaber, a spring which flows stronger and
stronger.

Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains the analogy: Even if there is mud
covering the spring, the waters will burst forth and wash away the mud until the
spring returns to flow as it did before. Like an overflowing spring the
life-giving waters of Torah give us increasing strength. As long as the fresh
waters of pure Torah are pumping, they will cleanse all impurities, uplift us,
and bring renewed vitality.

Thus, according to the Midrash (Eichah
Rabbah), G-d says, “Even if they were to leave Me but would learn my Torah, the
light within it will return them to the good.”

Torah learning changes our
perspective on life and enables us to understand Hashem’s worldview, thus
bringing us closer to Him. A proper Torah education instills in children an
understanding of where we come from, what our mission is, and why we believe in
the Jewish future.

Israel’s new education minister, and Jewish leaders in
Diaspora communities across the world, must embrace the daunting responsibility,
as well as the privilege to drastically improve our children’s Torah
education.

There is no margin for error. Success in this revolution is
the only guarantee of a long term, vibrant and inspired Jewish
future.

The writer is chief rabbi of South Africa.

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